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Astros & Phillies play 42 years after going head-to-head in 1980 National League Championship Series

Monday, October 24, 2022

Astros suffered painful loss when they last faced Phillies in playoffs

Forty-two years after the Astros and Phillies went head-to-head, Eyewitness News is looking back on one of the most heartbreaking losses in Houston sports history.

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- When the Houston Astros face the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2022 World Series, it won't be the first time the two Major League Baseball teams have met in the postseason.

The teams played in the 1980 National League Championship Series, which turned out to be one of the most heartbreaking losses in Houston sports history.

Houston had Nolan Ryan on the mound with just five outs needed to clinch the deciding game in that NLCS, but it wasn't meant to be.

"It looked like the Astros were indeed going to win that ballgame," Mike Acosta, an Astros historian, said. "Nolan Ryan was pitching, it was the perfect setup, and then things just started to fall apart."

The Phillies came back to win 8-7, sending the Astros home, and ultimately emerging victorious in the 1980 World Series.

Acosta said it's still a bitter pill to swallow.

"They just kind of outlasted the Astros. Astros fans don't want to hear that, and I certainly don't like it, but that's what happened," he explained. "They made a nice comeback."

In light of the Astros-recent success, Acosta says that 1980 fan base was completely different from today's because that team was the first in franchise history to make the postseason.

"That was brand new.1980 was the moment for (the fans)," Acosta said on the team's success.

The Astros and Phillies are set to play Game 1 of the 2022 World Series on Friday evening at Minute Maid Park.

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